


Waiting for Starlight

by WotanAnubis



Category: Pyre (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-12-08 23:27:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11656875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WotanAnubis/pseuds/WotanAnubis
Summary: In which Jodariel has to confront her changed feelings as well as her changed body.





	Waiting for Starlight

Jodariel sat against the sheer mountain wall, looking at nothing much in particular. She was waiting. They all were. Waiting for the stars to align again and for the Rites to begin anew.

There was nothing for her to do, right now. Her armor was as polished as it could be. Her raiment was in perfect condition. She'd trained enough for one day and didn't want to overexert herself. So, having nothing to do, she did nothing. Waited. Looked up at the dark, starless sky.

"Ah, Jodariel. Found you at last."

Jodariel looked up and was dismayed at how glad she was to see Pamitha. The way she felt about the Harp were... vexing. Part of her - the part that had been Captain Jodariel stationed at the Bloodborder - would never quite trust Pamitha. But another part of her, the demonic Jodariel of the Nightwings who'd shared many a Rite with Pamitha felt... felt...

Something. Something that conflicted deeply with the Captain's feelings. Something she needed time to unravel. Time she didn't have. Not even here, waiting in the Moonlight Alcove.

"Pamitha," she greeted the Harp with a nod of her head.

Jodariel spotted the bag slung over Pamitha's shoulder. For a moment she wondered what it was for. None of them owned very much and most of it was kept in the blackwagon. What would Pamitha need a bag for?

"Mind if I sit down?" the Harp asked.

"Do as you like," Jodariel replied.

Pamitha smiled. "How gracious."

Pamitha sat down next to her. Her feathers whispered across the Demon's bare arm. The Captain bristled at the intrusion. Jodariel relaxed a little.

"What another wretched day," Pamitha declared. "Don't you agree?"

Jodariel shrugged. "I've had worse."

"I can't stand all this sitting around," said Pamitha. "All this waiting. If I had my way, we'd be traveling while we waited."

"Where to?" Jodariel asked.

"That doesn't matter in the slightest," said Pamitha. "So long as we were moving, I would be content. Or as content as one can be down here."

Jodariel looked up at the cruel emptiness of the sky. "I think I know what you mean."

"Really?" Pamitha said playfully. "No remarks about conserving our strength? No lectures on how we ought to prepare for the next Rites?"

"No," said Jodariel.

Pamitha laughed. It was a delightful sound to fill up the silence.

"Well," the Harp said, "since we must stand still, I have taken it upon myself to move ahead anyway."

Jodariel turned to look at her. "What do you mean by that?"

Pamitha smiled her enigmatic smile. It would've been enchanting if she didn't hide so much behind it. As it was, it was simply vexing. And, Jodariel had to admit, enchanting. A bit.

"I mean that this tedious little interlude gave me ample opportunity to strike a deal with our beloved slugmerchant."

"You could have just said you bought something," Jodariel said.

"Oh, I think you're straightforward enough for the both of us, my dear Jodariel," Pamitha said.

The Harp opened her bag and produced two large rings. They were made of brass, as far as Jodariel could tell, and far too large to be worn anywhere. Maybe they could fit someone's arms, perhaps.

"These are for you," Pamitha said.

Her voice was... strange. Had lost its playful tone. Instead there was an edge of nervousness. Normally, Pamitha was good at hiding her feelings and intentions, but now she couldn't help but sound nervous?

"My fingers aren't that big," Jodariel said.

Pamitha smiled thinly. "They're for... your horns."

Jodariel shut down. Her horns. Yes. Those rings would fit on there easily. Two rings, so, one for each.

She should have seen it. She just... she didn't quite think of her horns as part of herself. Mostly they were a nuisance. She'd gladly be rid of them. She never even considered making them... pretty.

"I considered getting you some ribbons, at first," Pamitha said, getting more noticeable nervous. "It'd be so much easier to decorate your horns with them. But then I thought, no, ribbons wouldn't do justice to your magnificence. And besides, I don't think you're a ribbons kind of woman."

"So you got rings instead," said Jodariel.

"Quite so."

"For my horns," said Jodariel.

Pamitha closed her eyes a moment. "I suppose you find me insensitive. But I don't see your horns as a symbol of your crimes. They tell me you are not the person you once were. You are not some military commander who would kill me without a second thought. You are Jodariel."

"And who is 'Jodariel'?" Jodariel asked wryly.

"An excellent question," Pamitha said, smiling again. "As for the answer... well. Let us say, I harbor certain hopes. But for now, will you accept my gift?"

Jodariel found herself staring at the rings in the woman's wings. She wanted to reject them, but she was surprised at how little she wanted to reject them. It was the inner voice of the Captain. The Captain was very definitely Human and not a Demon. The Captain who hated Harps.

But even the Captain had not hated Harps enough. And besides, the Captain was long gone and only Jodariel remained.

And then Jodariel realized she wasn't looking at the rings, but the feathers beneath them. Soft and elegant and... trusted? Yes. Trusted. They were pretty in an ugly world - and that included the Commonwealth above. They were graceful as they soared across the battlefields of the Rites. And, yes, they were pleasant when they brushed against her skin.

And she never would have seen them if she hadn't been exiled to the Downside. Not like this, anyway. Not with these eyes, which belonged to no Captain at all, but only a demonic Nightwing.

Jodariel bowed her head. "Would you mind putting them on?"

Pamitha gave a nervous, relieved chuckle. "It would be my pleasure."

Jodariel felt nothing as Pamitha slipped the rings on. That is, she did not feel the rings sliding up her horns. What she did feel was her heart beginning to pound loudly in her chest. She'd crossed some threshold from which there was no going back. And further ahead...

"There," Pamitha said quietly.

Jodariel tried to spot her new rings from the corners of her eyes and failed. "How do I look?"

Pamitha smiled. For once there didn't seem to be anything hidden behind that smile.

"Magnificent."

"Somehow I had a feeling you might say that," said Jodariel. "But thank you. For the gift. I'm afraid I have nothing in return."

"They were a gift," said Pamitha breezily. "They would be a rather poor gift if I expected anything in return."

"Even so," said Jodariel.

"A smile, then," said Pamitha.

"I can't smile on command," said Jodariel.

"I've noticed. In that case, I shall be more than happy to simply wait here some more with you, if it's agreeable with you?"

"I'd be in your debt twice over then," said Jodariel.

"Ah, and she smiles after all," said Pamitha. "What more could a girl want?"

"Quite a lot, I should think," said Jodariel.

"Later. Perhaps. For now it's enough."

Pamitha settled in next to Jodariel again. Her feathers again brushed against her arms. But now the Harp also rested her head on the Demon's shoulder.

Pamitha sighed contently. "Suddenly all this waiting doesn't seem so bad any more."

Jodariel looked at her. "No," she agreed. "It doesn't."


End file.
